History of the World Poker Tour
The first edition of the WPT was held in 2002, and the event series continued until early 2003, culminating in the WPT Championship in April 2003. The tournament was a big media event right from the beginning, since major media outlets were present at its first edition, broadcasting the games in real time.
The huge media coverage the WPT enjoyed resulted in an immense increase in popularity even from the first days. But another contributing factor to the huge popularity increase was the fact that right from the beginning, the competition was attended by major international poker stars, which already enjoyed a real celebrity status.
How to Play in the WPT
Even though the WPT is an elite poker competition usually reserved to the already famous players in this scene, in theory everyone is allowed to participate. In order to play in the WPT one must either pay the designated buy-in price that is commonly between $2,500 and $25,000, or win a so-called satellite.
Satellites are competitions usually run by online poker rooms that reward winners with free entries to the WPT, or other major poker tournaments. Their advantage is that people will have the chance to participate in them for a relatively small amount of money, after which only skill will determine if one wins an entry ticket, or not.
The WPT Today
The WPT Hall of fame was designated to acknowledge the best poker pros on the planet, like Doyle Brunson, Gus Hansen and James Garner. It's everyone's dream to get into this famous leader board that is only reserved for the biggest names in the scene.
Each winner of a WPT event will be awarded with a certain number of points, and the one with the most points will be declared the „Player of the Year". The point table looks the following:
- Winner: 1000 points
- Runner-up: 700 points
- 3rd place: 600 points
- 4th place: 500 points
- 5th place: 400 points
- 6th place: 300 points
- 7th place: 200 points
The current Players of the Year until now are:
- 2002 to 2003: Howard Lederer
- 2003 to 2004: Erick Lindgren
- 2004 to 2005: Daniel Negreanu
- 2005 to 2006: Gavin Smith
- 2006 to 2007: J. C. Tran
- 2007 to 2008: Jonathan Little
- 2008 to 2009: Bertrand Grospellier
- 2009 to 2010: Faraz Jaka
- 2010 to 2011: Andy Frankenberger
The WPT is nowadays a well-established and leading poker tournament. The series of Texas Hold'em games being held each year offers huge winnings and entertaining games for many. But since the series is also available on mainstream television, it also provides a quality time and enjoyment for those people that couldn't attend the WPT in person.